A bill to amend title 38, United States Code, to improve compensation for disabilities occurring in Persian Gulf War veterans, and for other purposes.

II 117TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION S. 1039 To amend title 38, United States Code, to improve compensation for disabilities occurring in Persian Gulf War veterans, and for other purposes. IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES MARCH 25, 2021 Mr. MENENDEZ introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Veterans’ Affairs A BILL To amend title 38, United States Code, to improve com- pensation for disabilities occurring in Persian Gulf War veterans, and for other purposes. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 SECTION 1. IMPROVING COMPENSATION FOR DISABILITIES 3 OCCURRING IN PERSIAN GULF WAR VET- 4 ERANS. 5 (a) REDUCTION IN THRESHOLD OF ELIGIBILITY.— 6 Subsection (a)(1) of section 1117 of title 38, United 7 States Code, is amended by striking ‘‘became manifest— 8 ’’ and all that follows through the period at the end and 9 inserting ‘‘became manifest to any degree at any time’’. 10 VerDate Sep 11 2014 19:52 Apr 21, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1039.IS S1039 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 2 •S 1039 IS (b) PERMANENT EXTENSION OF PERIOD OF ELIGI- 1 BILITY.— 2 (1) IN GENERAL.—Such section is amended by 3 striking subsection (b). 4 (2) CONFORMING AMENDMENTS.—Such section, 5 as amended by paragraph (1), is further amended— 6 (A) by redesignating subsections (c) and 7 (d) as subsections (b) and (c), respectively; and 8 (B) in subsection (a)(2)(C), by striking 9 ‘‘under subsection (d)’’ and inserting ‘‘under 10 subsection (c)’’. 11 (c) ESTABLISHING SINGULAR DISABILITY BASED 12 QUESTIONNAIRE.—Such section, as amended by sub- 13 section (b), is further amended by inserting after sub- 14 section (c) the following new subsection (d): 15 ‘‘(d) The Secretary shall develop a Disability Benefits 16 Questionnaire (DBQ), or successor questionnaire, such 17 that if a Persian Gulf veteran presents with any one symp- 18 tom associated with Gulf War Illness, use of such ques- 19 tionnaire is mandatory for health care personnel of the 20 Department for the identification of Gulf War Illness.’’. 21 (d) EXPANSION OF DEFINITION OF PERSIAN GULF 22 VETERAN.—Subsection (f) of such section is amended by 23 inserting ‘‘, Afghanistan, Israel, Egypt, Turkey, Syria, or 24 Jordan’’ after ‘‘operations’’. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 19:52 Apr 21, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1039.IS S1039 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 3 •S 1039 IS (e) TRAINING.—Such section is amended by adding 1 at the end the following new subsection: 2 ‘‘(i)(1) The Secretary shall take such actions as may 3 be necessary to ensure that health care personnel of the 4 Department are appropriately trained to effectively carry 5 out this section. 6 ‘‘(2) Not less frequently than once each year, the Sec- 7 retary shall submit to Congress a report on the actions 8 taken by the Secretary to carry out paragraph (1).’’. 9 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 19:52 Apr 21, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\S1039.IS S1039 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS